Question

Read the case and answer the following Multiple choice questions. There are 5 questions total, where some of them might have more than one correct answers. You can choose more than one options where you think is suitable for the above question.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Project Manager Oliver Caine skimmed his notes as he waited for Ben Robins to come to the meeting room. He hoped Ben would arrive soon, as he wanted to get the con-versation finished quickly. Ben walked into the conference room, and smiled as he said, “Hi, Oliver. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.” Oliver replied, “No, I was a little early. Come on in and
sit down. Let’s get this performance appraisal done.” Smiling good-naturedly, Ben shrugged and chuckled as he said, “Sounds good to me. Just tell me how great I am and I’ll get out of your hair.” Ben shut the door and slid into a chair, looking expectantly at Oliver to begin.
Glancing down at the performance appraisal form he was in the process of hastily completing, Oliver said, “Ben, I see that you have been with us for just over seven months, and you have been working with me for the last four. Generally, I can say that you have been doing a good job. You have always handed in your work on time, and people seem to like you. There are some areas that need improving, however. Let me tell you what you need to work on. First, I’ve noticed you coming in late a couple of times. That’s never a good idea, especially for a junior person. Please do what you can to cut that out.” Leaning forward in his chair, Ben looked startled as he said, “Well, okay. I guess it’s true I was late on two morn-ings, but that’s because I’ve been having some car trouble this month. You know that I work late most nights, some-times till 11:00 p.m. And I’ve never taken a sick day. I can’t believe that being 10 minutes late twice is at the top of your list. That really doesn’t seem to be significant in my mind.” Looking uncomfortable, Oliver replied, “You don’t need to get so upset, Ben. I’m trying to help you here. And actu-ally, this reminds me of another area that needs improve-ment. You seem to get upset too easily. Come to think of it, I’ve seen you react strongly to things that people say in our project meetings. I wish you would make more of an effort to stay calm and reasonable.” Shaking his head, Ben said, “Excuse me? I honestly don’t know what you are talking about. I have never gotten upset in a project meeting! I may have defended an idea, but that’s it. Can you give me an example of a time when you think this happened?” Oliver sighed, and shook his head. He said, “No, I don’t have an exact date or anything, but I know I’ve seen it, and on more than one occasion. It seems silly to argue about this. Why would I lie?” Eyes flashing, Ben replied quietly with his teeth clenched, “I’m not saying that you are a liar, Oliver. I’m simply disagreeing with what you’re saying. You’re just wrong.” Oliver shook his head impatiently. “Well, I think you’re the one who is wrong. But, we’re getting off track here. I’m just telling you what I’ve seen. If you want to improve, you’ll be more open to listening to feedback. Oh, actually, that’s great.” Oliver wrote quickly on his paper, and con-tinued. “Let’s actually put the listening to criticism thing as something you need to do better. There! That’s good. Now we have three areas for improvement so I can fill out this form properly. We’ll list punctuality, staying calm, and accepting criticism as areas that you need to work on. I was having trouble thinking of three weaknesses, but now I think we’re set.” Ben sat speechless, unsure what to say.
The Overall Rating
Oliver put down his pen, and said, “On the bright side, I am rating you at ‘meets expectations.’ You’ll be happy to know that you are aligned with all of the other engineers on this project. Good job! While each of you has strengths and weaknesses, I’m happy to say that everyone is doing fine overall. I’m sure you’ll agree that we have a very good team.”
What About Scott?
Finally finding his voice, Ben said, “Wait. We’re all rated the same? What about Scott Browski? That guy is a walking disaster. We all spend time fixing his mistakes because he can’t do anything right. And if you care so much about punctuality, maybe you’ve noticed that he is late at least once a week.” Annoyed, Oliver said, “Woah. Calm down, Ben. There’s no need to come down so hard on Scott. He may not be perfect, but the customers love him. He is just the most easy-going guy. If we get behind schedule, we just send him out to ‘make nice’ and no one gets upset. We couldn’t get by without him. Besides, I only gave him a rating of ‘meets expectations’ as well.” Jumping out of his chair, Ben replied, “This makes no sense! Scott is the reason we get behind schedule! If he weren’t here we wouldn’t need anyone to kiss up to the customer.” Oliver held out his hands in a calming gesture, and said, “You’re getting upset again, Ben. What’s with that? Didn’t we just agree that you were going to work on that prob-lem? Please. Have a seat. I think we’re just about done. You just need to sign these forms for me saying that we had this meeting.” Oliver held out his pen to Ben, who seemed unsure how to react.

1. Which rater biases does Oliver seem to be displaying? *

a. Contrast Errors

b. Strictness

c. Central Tendency

d. Leniency

e. Personal Prejudice

f. Halo

g. Recency Effect

2. Which performance apprasial approach Oliver used? *

a. Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales

b. Management-by-Objectives

c. 360

d. Rating Scales

e.Performance Tests and Observations

3. Which evaluation interview approach Oliver used? *

a. tell-and-sell

b. tell-and-listen

c. problem-solving

4. Choose from the options below what Oliver should do to improve his ability to conduct more effective performance appraisal interviews. *

a. Emphasize positive aspects of employee performance

b. Tell each employee that the evaluation session is to improve performance, not to discipline.

c. Provide immediate positive and developmental feedback in a private location, and explicitly state that you are providing the employee with performance feedback.

d. Make criticisms specific, not general and vague.

e. Focus criticisms on performance, not on personality characteristics.

f. Stay calm and do not argue with the person being evaluated.

g. Identify specific actions the employee can take to improve⁸ performance, and discuss the manager’s role in supporting future development and career planning.

h. Emphasize the evaluator’s willingness to assist the employee’s efforts and to improve performance

i. All of the above

5. What was the purpose of Ben's performance appraisal? *

a. Administrative

b. Feedback and Performance Improvement

c. Employee Development and Career Planning

d. Criteria for Test Validation

Answer 1

1. (c) Central Tendency

Central Tendency bias (sometimes called central tendency error) is a tendency for a rater to place most items in the middle of a rating scale. In the case, Oliver gives all the engineers the same rating of 'Met Expectations' and just wanted to finish the appraisal process.

2. (a) Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) are scales used to rate performance. This appraisal method aims at combining the benefits of narratives, critical incidents, and quantified ratings by anchoring a quantified scale with specific narrative examples of good, moderate, and poor performance.

3. Tell-and-sell

The objective of the tell-and-sell method is to provide feedback to employees about their performance, gain their acceptance of the evaluation and persuade them to follow their superior's plan for improvement.

4. (i) All of the above

5. (b) Feedback and Performance Improvement